Ball Corporation has announced that it will cease production at its beverage packaging end-making plant in the US state of Virginia, supplying the plant’s capacity using other Ball facilities instead.
The company expects that the closure of the facility in Bristol – on the state border with Tennessee – will cost $19m, mainly because of employee severance and benefits packages. The Bristol plant opened in 1971 and is one of Ball’s oldest North American beverage packaging plants, producing beverage can ends in a variety of sizes and employing approximately 230 people.
Ball president, North American metal beverage packaging Daniel W. Fisher said: “This action will better align our manufacturing footprint to meet the needs of our customers as we actively manage our overall cost structure. Closing a plant is a difficult decision. We compete against plastic, glass and metal packaging in a highly competitive market, and we will continue to maximise value in our existing operations through optimising our network, as well as expanding into new and growing products, capabilities and markets to meet the needs of our customers.”
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